The Purchasing Specialist is primarily responsible for facilitating purchases on behalf of Tulsa City-County Health Department (TCCHD) programs.The following functions represent the majority of the duties performed by the position but is not meant to be all-inclusive or prevent other duties from being assigned when necessary.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:- Reviews, approves, and places orders for requisitioned purchases; ensures compliance with State, County and TCCHD purchasing policies.
- Confers with vendors, sales representatives, and suppliers regarding availability of supplies and equipment, delivery times, billing prices, shipping charges, or special problems related to the purchase.
- Follows up on backorders, supplies not received, incorrect supplies received, and over and under charges; and tracks supplies received but unable to locate.
- Reviews catalogs, trade publications, and purchasing manuals in order to determine the most favorable sources of supply and quality for purchased materials.
- Appraises relative quality of the items or services to be purchased to ensure compliance with purchase specifications.
- Provides advice to requestors and approvers regarding best practices and available vendors for goods and services procurement specific to their program.
- Maintains list of active suppliers and maintains purchasing files and reports.
- Responsible for coordinating office supply orders for TCCHD programs.
- Working knowledge of inventory management systems.
- Understands appropriate sole-source designations for vendors within government procurement processes.
- Participates in crafting bid specifications, preparation and distribution of bid invitations and evaluation of bids prior to agency award recommendations.
- Completes required training in support of duties and responsibilities of this position.
- Other duties as assigned including those required to fulfill activities in support of public health emergency operations.
Education: Associate’s degree in business, accounting, or materials management preferred.
Experience: Three or more years of purchasing experience is required.
Knowledge and Skills:- Knowledge of sources of supplies, markets, and price trends.
- Ability and willingness to establish and maintain effective working relationships with vendors, other employees and the general public.
- Ability and willingness to follow established policies and procedures.
- Ability to communicate effectively while serving multiple programs.
- Ability to apply effective reasoning techniques when interpreting purchasing statues.
- Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
- Good interpersonal, customer service, multi-task, and satisfaction-oriented skills.
- Composition of clear, concise correspondence and documents.
- Working knowledge of MS Word and Excel.
- Understanding of financial accounting systems, billing systems, reporting tools, and related procedures and software used for recording and reporting business transactions.
Licenses/Certifications: None required. CPO preferred (OK State Certified Procurement Officer)
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:- Frequent internal contact with personnel at all levels in the purchase of goods and services.
- Frequent external contact with vendors regarding purchases and orders.
PHYSICAL EFFORT:Must be able to lift materials, boxes of records and equipment weighing up to 25-30 pounds. Some
stooping, bending and squatting may be required when retrieving files. Sitting for periods of time, up to 3
hours. Repetitive hand motions associated with using a computer, keyboard, mouse and telephone.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY/ACCOUNTABILITY:Direct Supervision – None.
Indirect Supervision – None.
Budget/Money/Material – No direct accountability. Recommends the purchase of multi-million dollars
in goods and services per year.
Reports to – Senior Accountant, Supervisor.
WORKING CONDITIONS: No unusual working conditions.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:Must maintain THD record confidentiality according to HIPAA regulations.
FLSA Status: Exempt.